[FFX] Circles Within Circles
[FFX] Circles within Circles
Rating PG (Safe for work) - Status: Complete, Oneshot - Warnings: Character death
Characters: Auron
Pairings: None
Summary: Final Fantasy X. Auron, and the second confrontation with Yunalesca. Life and death is an eternal circle.
A/N: This is/was actually an RP ap, but after writing it I figured that - well, even if the ap doesn't get accepted, it's still one of the better things I've written. Especially lately 8D. I know the ending blows; the cadence is just wrong wrong wrong but aldkjfalkfsf I'm so tired. *flops*
Life and death.
It followed a cycle, eternal and inexorable as Sin. He had lived. And here he had died. And yet, he had lived again, only to return to this place, this throne of the Lady Yunalesca. And as the cycle turned, as all things returned to the start, here it was that death would come for him again.
He saw it in her eyes. He saw it, written black against the sky, as she summoned her magic. He saw it and did not waver, only shifted his grip on his sword, and slid one foot forward. Chudan Kamae. The middle stance. The center, the stability, from which all things began.
With the one eye that she had left him, he saw her smile.
Attack, that smile beckoned. Charge at me with your rage, your anger. Release it, as you did when you were younger, stronger. Run me through with your sword, avenge all those whom I have sent to their deaths.
Hn. Did she truly think that he had not learnt anything in all this time?
He swung his sword over his shoulder, narrowed his eyes. Ten years. It had been ten, long years. It was long past time to end this.
He moved. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tidus rushing in from the right, saw Kimahri dashing in from the left. His weight pivoted for a moment on his toes, then he was flying, swinging the blade forward, the steel glittering a path through the air as it arced towards her face.
Too late he saw the fourth. Too late he saw Yuna, Braska’s daughter, determination written on her face as she rushed forward. The spell Holy glowed on her fingertips, and her lips moved with words of power as she gripped her staff with a familiarity that made his heart ache. Too late, he saw Yunalesca smile.
Ten years, and he was still the fool.
His blade came down, the tip smashing into the ground instead of into the undead flesh of Yunalesca and her foul Aeon. He felt it bite, felt metal screech as he flung himself in the opposite direction at the same time Yunalesca struck.
For a single moment, the world hung in the balance. He saw Yuna’s face with a moment of utter clarity, her eyes wide with surprise. For a moment he saw Braska, his beloved, beloved lord, and for a moment, he thought - for the first time in ten years, he could almost smile.
Then he was crashing into Yuna, barrelling her to the ground, shielding her even as Yunalesca’s magic crashed into his back. It was heat, but it was more than heat. It was the core of the sun, a bite so intense that it felt like the stinging ice of Mt Gagazet instead of fire. He felt flesh tear from bone, felt his death reaching for him, and he could have laughed at the familiarity of it.
But this time, this time he held his Summoner tight, even as he felt darkness lock itself around his heart, encase his lungs in stone, boil the very blood from his veins. This time, he was in the right place, at the right time.
And even as the darkness took him, even as the world turned to black and began to fail, he saw light burst into view before him, Holy taking flight under the power of the Summoner he protected. He saw the Aeons burst into view - Valefor, Ifrit, Shiva... and Bahamut, winging his way down from the heavens. He heard Yuna cry out his name, and he heard Yunalesca scream.
And this time, although the circle closed, although the jaws of the cycle snapped shut with unquestionable finality, although it seemed but another turn of the wheel, over and over again, this time, he knew that it was different.
This time, he knew he did not die in vain.
Rating PG (Safe for work) - Status: Complete, Oneshot - Warnings: Character death
Characters: Auron
Pairings: None
Summary: Final Fantasy X. Auron, and the second confrontation with Yunalesca. Life and death is an eternal circle.
A/N: This is/was actually an RP ap, but after writing it I figured that - well, even if the ap doesn't get accepted, it's still one of the better things I've written. Especially lately 8D. I know the ending blows; the cadence is just wrong wrong wrong but aldkjfalkfsf I'm so tired. *flops*
Life and death.
It followed a cycle, eternal and inexorable as Sin. He had lived. And here he had died. And yet, he had lived again, only to return to this place, this throne of the Lady Yunalesca. And as the cycle turned, as all things returned to the start, here it was that death would come for him again.
He saw it in her eyes. He saw it, written black against the sky, as she summoned her magic. He saw it and did not waver, only shifted his grip on his sword, and slid one foot forward. Chudan Kamae. The middle stance. The center, the stability, from which all things began.
With the one eye that she had left him, he saw her smile.
Attack, that smile beckoned. Charge at me with your rage, your anger. Release it, as you did when you were younger, stronger. Run me through with your sword, avenge all those whom I have sent to their deaths.
Hn. Did she truly think that he had not learnt anything in all this time?
He swung his sword over his shoulder, narrowed his eyes. Ten years. It had been ten, long years. It was long past time to end this.
He moved. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tidus rushing in from the right, saw Kimahri dashing in from the left. His weight pivoted for a moment on his toes, then he was flying, swinging the blade forward, the steel glittering a path through the air as it arced towards her face.
Too late he saw the fourth. Too late he saw Yuna, Braska’s daughter, determination written on her face as she rushed forward. The spell Holy glowed on her fingertips, and her lips moved with words of power as she gripped her staff with a familiarity that made his heart ache. Too late, he saw Yunalesca smile.
Ten years, and he was still the fool.
His blade came down, the tip smashing into the ground instead of into the undead flesh of Yunalesca and her foul Aeon. He felt it bite, felt metal screech as he flung himself in the opposite direction at the same time Yunalesca struck.
For a single moment, the world hung in the balance. He saw Yuna’s face with a moment of utter clarity, her eyes wide with surprise. For a moment he saw Braska, his beloved, beloved lord, and for a moment, he thought - for the first time in ten years, he could almost smile.
Then he was crashing into Yuna, barrelling her to the ground, shielding her even as Yunalesca’s magic crashed into his back. It was heat, but it was more than heat. It was the core of the sun, a bite so intense that it felt like the stinging ice of Mt Gagazet instead of fire. He felt flesh tear from bone, felt his death reaching for him, and he could have laughed at the familiarity of it.
But this time, this time he held his Summoner tight, even as he felt darkness lock itself around his heart, encase his lungs in stone, boil the very blood from his veins. This time, he was in the right place, at the right time.
And even as the darkness took him, even as the world turned to black and began to fail, he saw light burst into view before him, Holy taking flight under the power of the Summoner he protected. He saw the Aeons burst into view - Valefor, Ifrit, Shiva... and Bahamut, winging his way down from the heavens. He heard Yuna cry out his name, and he heard Yunalesca scream.
And this time, although the circle closed, although the jaws of the cycle snapped shut with unquestionable finality, although it seemed but another turn of the wheel, over and over again, this time, he knew that it was different.
This time, he knew he did not die in vain.